One surprise to Europeans who settled the plains was the abundance of wild mushrooms, including morels, chanterelles, and other varieties familiar from home. Free for the picking, the mushrooms were hung on strings and dried, providing a winter's worth of eating. Wild rice (actually a grass seed) is a New World native that combines well with the earthy mushrooms the French cèpes. (The Italians call them porcini, and they are easier to find than cèpes, which is why we call for porcini in this recipe.)

Candida Sportiello writes: "As owner and chef of Il Giardino restaurant, on the tiny island of Ventotene off the coast of Naples, I've been cooking professionally for twenty-five years — but I've been cooking for pleasure for a good fifty years. As is the Italian way, most of my favorite recipes were handed down from my mother and grandmother, so they date from the early 1900s."
"I love having so many amazing ingredients at my fingertips on Ventotene: fish, lentils, wild asparagus, mushrooms, fava beans, and artichokes. They make it easy to produce home-style cooking at its best."

Most Moroccan fish specialties are prepared with a marinade called charmoula. Paprika, cumin, cilantro and garlic usually form its base, with other seasonings-such as the saffron and turmeric here-added for variation.